Gel Bio Robot Fridge
Instead of just slightly tinkering with the concept of the refrigerator that we all know and love, the Bio Robot Fridge chucks that concept out all together and replaces it with awesome new future-goo.
This sucker was a finalist at one of the recent Electrolux Design Lab competitions where participants are invited to demonstrate the innovations they’ve made on traditional household appliances. The gel-fridge comes courtesy of Russian inventor and designer Yuriy Dimitriev.
As you can tell there are no doors and no shelves – just a huge slab of quasi-solid green goop that both suspends and cools your food. Obviously aware that there’s a certain ick-factor involved, Dimitriev is proud to inform you that the gel is simultaneously odorless and non-sticky.
Out of the three appliances on our list, this is the only one that still has its feet more in the world of concept than reality. Dimitriev aims to change all that in the near future as he strongly believes his invention could revolutionize the fridge industry.
In the design he’s still working on, the gel itself will use luminescence – light generated in cold temperature – to keep itself cold, meaning that it has no motor and wouldn’t need to be plugged in. When you consider that the average refrigerator uses about 8% of a household’s total energy and the Bio Robot Fridge uses 0%, that’s a pretty big deal.
Boxetti Compact Kitchen
With the introduction of its compact kitchen, Boxetti has truly mastered the idea of thinking outside the box…by thinking inside the box.
They take the concept of the Murphy bed (the kind that folds out of your wall) and apply it to all aspects of modern living – finding a way to give available space the most bang for its buck. None of their offerings however, have as futuristic a feel than their kitchen piece, which exudes the feel of a giant homemaker Transformers action figure.
The design employs contemporary aesthetics to create a clean look and feel, and contains all the functionality and technology of any modern kitchen.
First off, it’s an island – but don’t worry about bringing your own chairs as it already comes equipped with built-in expandable bar seats. At your command, it’s automatic sliding countertop slips away to reveal a working sink, and scattered around behind the various panels is also a fridge, shelving, and a bunch of storage space for all your cookware and utensils.
Induction Stoves
If you haven’t yet heard of induction heating in relation to cooking, be prepared to soon have it become the way most stoves operate.
If given the choice between gas and electric stoves, a good cook will always choose gas as it gives you a lot more control over the way you’re heating your ingredients. Induction offers the same quality – but with none of the risks of gas – by using a magnetic field to cook your food.
With a normal burner, the element heats up and then that heat is transferred to the pot or pan on top of it. With induction heating, the magnetic field supplies heat directly to the cooking vessel itself, meaning that you can have your hand on the same surface that’s boiling a pot of water and not get scorched.
It also allows you to adjust the heat instantly and with as much precision as a gas stove, but doesn’t allow heat to escape in the same way. So much heat escapes with gas that about only 40% of the energy is used to cook, whereas with induction heating, you use 84%.
Your kitchen will always be cooler when you cook, and if you’re the kind of person who’s notorious for accidentally leaving tea towels or oven mitts on hot burners, this may be a technology you’ll want to get on board with.